Evaluation Kit Jump-Starts Smart Horticulture

Article By : Arrow Electronics

Arrow Electronics introduced a smart horticulture solution based on an evaluation kit containing all required hardware and software needed to evaluate and implement a complete indoor horticulture solution.

According to Markets and Markets, “the overall horticulture lighting market is expected to grow from USD 2.43 billion in 2018 to USD 6.21 billion by 2023” *. Without the advancement of smart horticulture practices in greenhouses and vertical farming enterprises, the retail and domestic growers will not be able to maximize crop yields and shorten growing time by optimizing environmental conditions. In addition, these industries will miss out on the energy and water-saving opportunities that enhance sustainability.

End users often struggle to combine sensors, actuators, wireless communications, LED lighting control and mobile applications to gather the right data, analyze it quickly, generate the appropriate response, and act upon it. Even those who are technologically proficient to implement a system, find that existing product offerings make it challenging to deploy a scalable, low-power, reliable system, cost effectively and securely. With the Arrow horticultural evaluation kit, these problems have been solved, allowing customers to get to market more quickly.

Through collaboration with Analog Devices, Silicon Labs, Osram, Amphenol and Arrow’s engineering capabilities, all sensing, power, signal conditioning, lighting control, and wireless communication challenges have been pre-solved, allowing for quicker time to market.

The horticultural solution includes a soil-monitor node using leading edge technologies from Analog Devices, which include power and analog solutions to create a highly accurate measurement of the soils’ pH and moisture level to maximize crop yield. Also integrated is an IoT gateway based on a Qualcomm 96Boards platform and LED node featuring the ability to control the color, UV spectrum and intensity of a custom light engine. Custom control of the soil and LED nodes is accomplished through the IoT Gateway with the implementation of pre-certified ZigBee modules from Silicon Labs.

IOS and Android based mobile applications are available for configuration and control of the Soil and LED nodes as well. Lastly, the design files of a light engine containing Osram OSLON Square high-power LEDs can be provided for further customization.